


Like I've Known You All My Life

by Nitramoron



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitramoron/pseuds/Nitramoron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Dave finally finds someone who understands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like I've Known You All My Life

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Contains Dave’s inner angst and language my gram wouldn’t be proud of AT ALL and Doomed Dave dying and Dave being a projectile vomit volcano from planet disgusting alright

Being the Knight of Time is hard.  
It’s hard and no one understands.  
Not that you’d let them understand, anyway; you’re the cool kid. You never let anyone in for fear that they’ll break you, slice you up from the inside out and give you emotional wounds from which you would never recover. You’d never admit that you’re afraid, but you know it’s true. You were never afraid of much of anything until you saw your first dead Dave, lying in a puddle of his—your?—own blood.  
His eyes were wide open, glazed and fire-red and full of fear. His face was contorted in terror. His shades were lying, broken, in his blood beside him. When you saw a mirror image of yourself lying broken before you, you shed your first tears. You didn’t care that Terezi was watching you, licking the screen, doing whatever the hell it is that she does to know what you’re doing at any given time. You, Dave Strider, collapsed in a puddle of your blood and sobbed pitifully into your hands, glasses pushed high up into your blonde hair. You cried for a long while. You cried for the dead Dave lying before you, and for the dead Daves that are inevitably going to pile up from that point on. It was only a matter of time, you knew. After you were done sobbing into your suit jacket like a fucking five year old that had his favorite toy taken from him, you had a new view on everything. You were the Knight of Time. Of course other you’s would die. You promised yourself that, for the sake of you and your friends, you would be the best goddamn Knight imaginable. It will always be much better to see yourself dead than any of your friends. You straightened yourself up, brushed the dirt off your suit jacket, and pushed your shades over your burning eyes. You would be the best Knight of Time. You will survive.  
That little epiphany never stopped you from being afraid after that moment, just as being such an important player never stopped being so damn hard. It hurt that even John, who was like your other half, understood nothing about how hard it was.  
So, when John told you there was another time player named Aradia, hope sprung up in your cold-ass heart. You replied to the news with a pokerfaced nod and a brisk, “Cool,” but inside you were freaking the fuck out in a most unironic way.  
You didn’t get to say more than a few words to her for a long time. Even after you began living with all of the trolls, your days were full of planning with Karkat and Sollux and a few others on strategies until you were a breath away from keeling over from exhaustion, and then you wobbled to your room and fell asleep. You didn’t see much of anyone who wasn’t in your little group of strategists.  
When you finally got to speak to Aradia Megido, you threw up on her.  
All the trolls, you, and Rose were having a party. You finally came up with a half-decent strategy after weeks of planning, and Terezi decided that celebration was in order. You were stuck in the kitchen cooking this goddamned Alternian feast with a fuck-ton others, including Kanaya, Rose, Gamzee, Feferi, Sollux, and Aradia. You had no idea why you were there—back in Texas, the extent of your cooking was putting one of your brother’s ironic goddamned puppets in the blender—but you were, mixing something that looked vaguely like shit mixed with mustard (“IIT2 GRUB 2AUCE, IIDIIOT!”) and looking at it with a look of disgust.  
“HeY mOtHeRfUcKeR, tHaT gRuB sAuCe SmElLs BiTcHtItS wIcKeD!” Gamzee said with a lidded grin.  
You just shake your head.  
“What’s wrong with the grub sauce, David?” Rose asked you with an amused look on her face. Bitch probably got used to it, being around Kanaya all the time. Kanaya apparently loves to cook.  
“It looks like shit shitted on shit.” You said with a sour look on your face.  
“Here, why don’t you sample some?” Rose said, smiling. Before you could deny it, she yelled out to the rest, “Everyone! Congregate—Dave’s trying Alternian grub sauce!”  
A few others came over and stood around you. You guessed you couldn’t back away now—you have a reputation to uphold, after all.  
“Fine.” You said and roll your eyes behind your shades, grabbing the spoon Rose held out to you. You dipped it carefully in the sauce and held it up to your lips, closing your eyes and plopping it in. You downed it quickly, and you didn’t taste it for a moment. Then the horrid taste flooded your mouth and you began to gag, looking around for a trashcan, but you couldn’t hold it. You turn to the nearest person and vomit all over them, covering them in grub sauce and the Chinese food you alchemized earlier. You’re finished spilling your guts when you look up and realize that the person you just threw up all over is a tall, full-figured girl with wild hair and curling ram’s horns, bearing a shirt with the red Time Player sign on it and big red wings spread behind her.  
Well, fuck. You’d just thrown up all over the only other Time player and the only one who might relate to you.  
“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck I’m sorry,” you freaked the fuck out, shocking yourself and all the other people in the room. You composed yourself and put your pokerface back on. “Come on. I’ll clean you up.” You said, taking her hand and pulling her up. She follows you to your bedroom, silent. You sat her down on your bed. “Sorry for the mess,” you called out as you headed to the bathroom and got a wet washcloth. You grabbed a tee shirt bearing your record logo and some black pants on your way back for her to change into.  
You sat down on your bed next to her, and she turns to face you. There was vomit all over her arms, her face, and her clothing. You wince.  
“Damn, Megido, I got you good.” You said, and were shocked that she giggled at this. “What? I exploded all over you like a fucking projectile vomit volcano and you’re giggling?”  
“Sorry, Dave! You called me Megido!” she said, smiling slightly as you reached up with the washcloth and dabbed at her face.  
“How come you’re all dismal and depressed when you’re talking to everyone else, but a motherfucking ray of sunshine with me?” you ask her, amused.  
“I don’t know, really. I guess it’s because you’re a time player too. I feel really comfortable around you, even though we’ve never really talked before.” She mused, obviously studying your face. You put the hand without the washcloth on her cheek to steady her while you cleaned the rest of the vomit off her neck before moving onto her arms.  
“I feel the same way,” you murmured truthfully, looking up at her. “So, I brought you some clothes over. I think they’ll fit you, except for…” you trailed off as you studied her wings, picking up your tee shirt and ripping twin holes in the back without waiting for her to say anything. You handed that and the jeans to her before standing up and turning around. A second later you heard rustling, and a second after that she tapped your shoulder. You turned around and looked down at her, fighting a smile as you saw how good your clothes looked on her. You realized you were staring when she cleared her throat and called your name.  
“Dave? Hello?”  
“I’m sorry, what?”  
“Do you want to come flying with me?” she asked, a huge grin on her round face.  
“No, ma’am. The great Dave Strider stays with both feet planted firmly on this asteroid at all costs,”  
“Come on, Dave! I won’t drop you, I swear! I have my God-Tier strength, remember. And it’s such a rush.” she whined, grabbing onto your arm with both hands and making your heart jump in a most uncool way.  
“Pinky promise?” you said, wagging your pinky at her, voice dripping with irony. If irony was a liquid, you’d be drowning in it right now, that’s how much irony you were secreting.  
“Pinky promise!” she cheered, intertwining her pinky with yours before grabbing your whole hand in hers and leading you towards the window. She opened it and climbed out, wings fluttering. She held her hand out to you and you took it without hesitation and climbed out the window. She pulled you up to where you were holding both her hands and dangling right under her as she flew away from headquarters and into the night.  
The two of you flew around for a long while, talking about nothing in particular. You were so comfortable around her, and you were beginning to think you had a thing for this other time player when she pulled you back into your window. It was really fucking late when you got back, and you asked Aradia if she just wanted to stay the night in your block because hers was on the whole other side of the building and she agreed with a sharp-toothed grin.  
So that led to you two in your bed together, her wings tucked into her back and her head pressed against your bare chest as she listened to your heart beat.  
“Dave?” she asked after a long while of lying in comfortable silence.  
“Sup, ‘Radia?” your chin jutted into your chest as you looked down at her, finding her big red eyes (slightly darker than yours, but still red. It amazed you how many similarities you found between the two of you.) already focused on your face.  
“I, um…” she trailed off, seeming to search for words. “I like you.”  
“I like you too, Aradia.” You laughed, not getting your hopes up that she meant it as anything more than friends.  
“No, I, Dave… I know we’ve only really been friends for a little while, but I think I’m flushed for you.” She said, eyes wide.  
Wait.  
Wait. Hold the fucking presses. You searched your mind for what Rose said about troll romance. Flushed means something like love, right? Holy shit… Aradia liked you too? Holy fucking shit!  
“Really?” you ask, something dangerously close to uncool shock in your voice.  
“Really.” She said with a small smile.  
“Well, I think I’m flushed for you too, Aradia.”  
“Really?”  
“Really.” You said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head and wrap your long arms around her. The grin that flashed on her face instantly brought a smile to your normally impassive face. “Now go to sleep, Aradia.”  
“Gladly, Dave.” she said, sighing and relaxing into your embrace.  
You could get used to this.


End file.
